Redemption
by WhatIsFanfiction
Summary: Gotham City / Arrow story featuring OC. Victoria Valentine was the daughter of the inventor and doctor Frederick Valentine, before the Black Mask and his men took them both away. She has been trained by the Rogues Gallery to become the ultimate foe to Batman - but is she willing to submit to the life that has been created for her?


**Redemption**

**Chapter 1**

I open my eyes and my entire body aches. I'm cold and wet, lying face down on the dirty floor of an alley in the East End of Gotham. I watch the rain as it patters and splashes off from a nearby dumpster. I'm lying in a puddle mixed with blood from one of my legs. My mind is still a little glitchy. I try to push myself up gently, my arms wavering in weakness. I push some of my wet clinging hair off from my face and wipe blood off from my cut lip. I finally sit up on my knees, rubbing my heavy neck. It feels like I've had a clamp on it for years…

On the ground next to me is a broken dog collar – and that's when I remember. My neck is sore because I _have_ had a clamp on it for years. A deadly collar to keep me in the Black Mask's control.

Oh, fuck. The Black Mask.

I stand up as quickly as I can but my right leg buckles under this new pressure. Is it broken? Fuck. Gotta move, otherwise I won't be alive long enough to find out. I take cover behind the corner of the building and take a quick look. Empty street. I limp over to the alley opposite me. I am so vulnerable like this; I have to change out of this Magpie get-up before any of the Bat family see me.

I can't imagine anyone being envious of my position right now, being an enemy to Batman and now the biggest crime lord in the city. How did things get so messy?

If anyone finds me I'm too weak to fight back. I should have had a contingency plan, some kind of back up. Even different clothes to change into would have been useful right now. I have no drugs to starve off the pain running through my body, either.

I realise I'm not far from the clinic, if I could just get there maybe I can get fixed up enough to at least hide from -

An arrow lands in front of me with a _thwick._ I quickly fall back into the shadows of the alley and look up. A dark hooded figure is poised, his longbow pointed right at me. What the hell is the Green Arrow doing in Gotham? Why would the Bat call for backup? Just when things couldn't get any worse. But there's no time to ask questions right now; it's time to limp and limp fast.

I turn on my heel and run down the alley, occasionally falling onto the building. The Arrow is chasing me now on the rooftops. I could try to lose him in one of these buildings, Star boy is in my city now he won't know where the maze will lead.

"Wait!" I hear him call out. No chance I'm being pulled in by Robin Hood tonight. If I'm going down, I'm not going down by a pansy in green tights.

The pain in my leg is agonizing now, I don't know how much longer I can last. His arrows keep falling short. I see another arrow fly past me in the corner of my eye and it hit the dumpster in front of me, exploding on impact. The fire throws me back onto the ground and I feel my head crack on the floor, and an agonizing scream of pain escapes me. This is almost as bad as coming down from Bane's venom.

More of my blood swirls into the rain puddles, the tiny drops disrupting the pattern in the water. I can't admit defeat yet, though. I have been planning today for so many years - it's been months since the Penguin even let me out of my cage. And now I am lying on the ground, my blood staining my black and white Magpie inspired bodysuit, with the Green Arrow landing next to me. The rubbish and cardboard around was too wet to catch on fire from his explosive arrow, though. No distractions, just me and the Hood.

He takes a step closer to me, and he's within my arm reach. I take him by surprise and pull his foot so he falls backwards. I try to sit up but my head is too heavy. Fuck. Not now. I try to sit up again and the Arrow is already back on his feet.  
"Stop," he says.  
"This isn't your city. This isn't your fight," I hiss back to him. Why is he even here?  
"I am here to protect the weak and the innocent. This is my fight." I'm trying to get back on my feet but my body has admitted defeat, and I can feel my mind losing its grip on the world around me. That's why he isn't attacking, he pities me. He knows I'm done for, that I'll be left to rot in this alley, left to decay in this city like my mother before me.

I watch the rain splash in my puddle of water and blood as I lay there, my vision getting darker and the lights in the distance merging together. "I know who you are," the Arrow says. His voice sounds closer, like he's kneeling next to me, and it reminds me of when my father used to tell stories to me in bed. "At least that makes one of us," I reply.

I have been the Magpie for so long, I can't even remember who Victoria Valentine is anymore. She has been dead for twelve years, and in her place rose the Magpie: one of the greatest jewel thief's in Gotham, even rivalling the legendary Catwoman. She was a concoction of some of the greatest villains of Batman, designed to become his greatest foe and was destined to take down the Bat and lead the way to a darker future ruled by crime, and all because she had an artificial heart. She would become a vessel for Bane's greatest venom yet, unrestrained by human heart limitations… And yet here I am, broken and bent on the dirty concrete of Gotham City, with only the Green Arrow by my side. Life can be so unpredictable and disappointing.

"Stay still, this might hurt a little," the Green Arrow said to me. I turned to him, my eyes wide. "What are you doing," I hardly recognize my own shrill voice. A hearty laugh escapes his mouth, "well I'm not going to leave you out here, you might get a cold."  
"A cold is probably the least of my worries at the momen-"a cry of pain echoes down the alley. "My leg!"  
"I told you it might hurt a little! Stay still." He stands upright, cradling me in his arms. Why is he helping me? And more importantly, where the hell is he taking me?  
"You're not taking me to Batman are you?" I'm panicking now. Being taken to the Bat might be as bad as being taken to the Mask.  
"No. I'm not taking you to Batman."  
"How do I know I can trust you?" I whimper. I could really go for some morphine right now.  
"Shouldn't the question be: how do I know**_ I_** can trust _**you**__?_" he replied. I'm too tired to answer or argue. Instead I feel the rain wash the blood from my face, and I pray silently that this is the last time I ever become the Magpie, before I finally black out in the Arrow's arms.


End file.
